Archive for January, 2013

There are many things that can happen in life that can take you by surprise. Whether something happens with your finances, an injury, a criminal charge or something traumatic, or if something minor happens in an area in which you lack experience, a lawyer is a wonderful thing to have. Speaking with someone who has expertise in any area can help you to figure things out and to get things done properly.

When something comes up unexpectedly, it can be very difficult to keep a clear head and not to panic. These two reactions are both entirely normal, but are unfortunately also likely to hinder any progress in any given area. The best time to figure out if a lawyer is needed is before any legal action takes place. The best way to know if a lawyer is actually needed is to speak with one.

Many firms offer free or low-cost consultations. A consultation is an excellent resource available. This is when you meet with an attorney to ask any questions you may have and to get an expert opinion on any situation. He or she will be able to tell you if they advise having legal counsel, and can often point you to different resources if it is unnecessary.

With most legal things, there are a lot of steps involved and each step usually involves a hefty amount of paperwork. These two things in combination can often feel overwhelming and you may accidentally miss important deadlines. Regardless of what the case is, an attorney will be able to guide you through the processes and will help to make sure that everything gets turned in to its appropriate place.

Beyond paperwork, a lawyer will be able to speak on your behalf. This means that he or she will be able to speak with officials, people in power and to people that may try to intimidate you. Your attorney will be able to speak the same language (it is often said that legal things are spoken in “legalese,” which many people do not understand right off the bat) and will make sure that everything is happening the way it should be.

If anything happens that concerns your well-being or if you get charged with anything, representation is especially key. In this circumstance, you will want to have someone with knowledge and experience to negotiate any terms of the circumstances in your favor.

Having an attorney you trust and can call on can help you have confidence in many different situations. When looking for representation, it is important to look around and do some research. You will want to make sure to have someone honest and experienced, as this will make you both more comfortable and less liable. The more experience an attorney has, the more experience he or she can apply to your individual case.

A personal injury lawyer is someone who represents people who have been injured, either physically or psychologically, as a result of someone else’s negligence. The guilty party can be an individual person, a company, a government department, or some other entity. Such a lawyer is therefore well versed in the law that governs injury to a person, damage to a person’s property, a person’s reputation, and a person’s rights.

Although personal injury attorneys are licensed to practice in most areas of law, they usually concentrate on cases that relate to injury. These include motor vehicle injury, injuries at the workplace, medical negligence, paraplegic and brain injury, as well as slip and fall injury. The lawyer has to follow a code of conduct and ethical rules laid down by a bar association when serving his or her clients.

Once the lawyer has received a license to practice, they are permitted to file complaints, defend cases in a court, draw up legal documents, and give legal advice to people wishing to lodge a personal injury claim. In some countries, a personal injury attorney is also called a plaintiff attorney.

When first consulting with such a lawyer, he or she will first evaluate the client’s case. This involves an in-depth study of the circumstances surrounding the injury and the nature of the negligence that caused the client’s injury. When all information is gathered, a strong case can be made against the defendant.

The main aim is to ensure that the client receives justice and a fair settlement for the loss and suffering caused. As already stated, the attorney is required to operate within strict parameters while building the case. He or she will be registered member of a bar association which states that loyalty and client confidentiality are practiced at all times.

Like most other lawyers, personal injury attorneys can practice as individuals, or they may be employed by legal firms – small, medium or large. He or she can also own a law company or be a partner in the business. You can often get more personal attention if you deal with an individual practitioner.

Furthermore, attorneys who practice on their own are more likely to accept smaller cases. The costs are usually less because they don’t carry the hefty overheads of a large law firm. Therefore, the public find them much more accessible and affordable.

A small law firm usually comprises of 2-10 attorneys who have expertise in many areas of personal injury claims. A medium-size company usually comprises of 10-50 attorneys who provide legal representation in all areas of the law. The company would also have several lawyers that deal exclusively with personal injury claims such as Paraplegic and Brain injury Toronto. A large law company usually has more than 50 attorneys. Often, a large firm has an excellent reputation because it has been in existence for a long time.

A personal injury lawyer in the USA can become a member of many professional organizations. There are certain associations that call for mandatory membership while others are voluntary. Some common bodies are the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, the American Bar Association, or the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

We have all heard the jokes and negative comments surrounding lawyers but have you ever wondered how it all got started. Just as with any profession, there is bad and good. Are there unethical, incompetent attorneys? Of course! Just as there are unethical, incompetent plumbers, physicians, and restaurant workers. However, for some inexplicable reason, it seems lawyers have had more than their fair share of “bad”. The complexity of the law and the demand for legal services from the boardroom to the coat room validate that the profession does have value, so why the bad press?

Well let’s begin with fees. The hourly bill may just have been the beginning of the end for the legal profession. No one is in a good mood when an hourly meter is running, particularly when you can’t control the number of hours that you purchase! Traditionally, Lawyers have relied on the hourly rate, as their standard for billing. With this billing arrangement, the law firm would maintain a record of everything done for you to include phone calls, written letters, court appearances, consultations, etc. You are then billed an agreed upon hourly fee for all of the time that was spent working on your behalf. In addition, you could also incur additional expenses such as transportation, document fees, even phone calls. While this practice is standard in many professions, many consumers believe that attorneys inflate expenses in an effort to make additional profit.

In truth, most service providers use an hourly rate to calculate a fee. In example, an accountant might quote you a fee of $250.00 to review your taxes. The fee is not out of line with your geographic area and the accountant comes highly recommended so you opt to hire him/her at this rate. What you may not realize is that the $250 flat fee may be based on the accountant’s knowledge that the review will take 2.5 hours of time at $100 per hour.

Many attorneys have become a bit more market savvy and offer alternative billing arrangements. Rather than hourly bills and separate expense charges, they may offer case rates, retainer agreements and other solutions. The key is in providing value for the dollar charged, and creating long term relationships.

Another area that has eroded the reputation of lawyers is the unfortunate lapses in ethical behavior. While most attorneys do in fact adhere to the standards of law, the few bad apples have made it difficult for the public to trust lawyers. For example, in the state of South Carolina a young man was on trial for a murder that most believe he never committed. His family sold their home, cars, and gathered all the cash possible to hire a good defense lawyer. Believing their son was in the best hands possible, they discovered that the prosecuting attorney was married to their lawyer’s sister and that pertinent information had been shared, resulting in a mistrial. As you can imagine, this put a black mark against those attorneys, as well as others who were innocent but within the same community.

Personal injury law has been another source of questionable ethics. Billboard and commercial advertisements abound with the promise of high dollar settlements for your case. This marketing tactic only adds to the negative perception of the legal profession, as it makes them appear as ethical as snake oil salesmen.

Additionally, most of us have heard the horror stories about attorneys collaborating back room deals with physicians. In this instance, an attorney wanting to win a case involving a car accident or injury on the job might send his client to a “special” doctor that will validate and even overemphasize the level of injury. The doctor testifies in court in support of the plaintiff, giving the attorney and case strong credibility. Again, these practices are not standard for all personal injury lawyers but unfortunately the actions of a minority have significantly impacted the majority.

The attorneys that engage in unethical practices deserve to be drummed right out of the profession. Sadly, it is unlikely to happen because just as there is a market for competent, ethical law practitioners there is also a market for the legal underbelly. People that desire to bring forward fraudulent lawsuits, illegal adoptions or even illegal immigrations will turn to attorneys who are willing to work around the established rules of law.

Most attorneys are honest, hard-working individuals who take their work very seriously. Because of this, we see a number of law firms working to change public opinion. There are dishonest “professionals” in any field. We can look to education for current examples. There seems to be a spate of sex scandals involving schoolteachers, yet, the four cases that have been highlighted in the news within the past year does not mean all schoolteachers are sex offenders.

The same is true with lawyers. Yes, we have seen cases in which some are not honest and sadly, those are the cases exploited through the media. What you do not hear much of are stories about the reputable attorneys that solve cases and help improve or even change lives. While the public may not be quite ready to elevate lawyers to hero status maybe, just maybe we can start a kinder, gentler trend of being a little nicer.